Donations through Fidelity Charitable Giving Fund

Last year my husband and I opened a Charitable Giving Fund through Fidelity where we donate to that fund (that generates the tax deductible event) and from there we make grants to organizations. Last year we paid our tithing through that fund to the church and it didn't link up with my husband's membership record as it would if we were paying directly from a bank account (as we have in the past). We don't need the verification that we are paying tithing for tax records, as that comes from Fidelity, but it might be nice for the church to know that we are paying our tithing. How can we link that donation up with a membership record number?

When I donated shares in the past through the In-kind Office, there was no tithing indication shown and, as far as I know, no link between my donation and my local ward. As with you, the transaction didn't show up on my year-end statement of donations. That didn't matter for tax purposes due to the receipt of the donation from my mutual fund and from the Church.

As far as the Church knowing you paid tithing, that is accomplished in tithing settlement when you declare your tithing status to your bishop. As a former bishop, there were many times where the local records showed $0 but the member declared to me a full tithe status. Usually, it was with in-kind donations. Also, when using the bill pay option from your bank (before the lds.org online donation function) the donation didn't show up on the ward's records but did on the year-end statement I received directly from the Church.

As an aside, the dollar amounts shown on the local records never really mattered to me; it was all about the member's declaration of their status. My parents, however, had a bishop that was really bothered that he couldn't see a donation amount.

Do you just donate to the Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from fidelity? I noticed that a lot of wards or stakes have been set up.

Neither our ward nor stake had set up accounts. For my fast offering donation, I referenced my ward and stake in the notes in case it mattered. But when I went to tithing settlement our bishop said it really didn't matter because our ward wasn't using the fast offerings they received so they went to the general church fund anyway. So I won't worry about it, the bishop took our declaration and it didn't matter to him that he didn't have any documentation that we were paying our tithing. It's nice to be trusted!

I would like to set up donations (Tithing, Fast Offerings, Humanitarian, and Missionary) to go directly from my IRA to the Church. How do I do this, and how do I spit the donations to go the 4 directions I mentioned. My brokerage house can send a lump sum, but I am not sure how to divide the funds into these 4 different donation groups.

[Personal information removed - this is a public forum]

You will be able to do this through LDS Philanthropies. Specific instructions on how to set it up are at this page.

I am doing my taxes for 2023 and cannot find the tithing donation receipt I gave through Fidelity Charitable accounts, and need a copy right away. my member number is [personal details removed]

hdangl wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:41 am I am doing my taxes for 2023 and cannot find the tithing donation receipt I gave through Fidelity Charitable accounts, and need a copy right away. my member number is [personal details removed]

No one here can provide this for you. This is a peer to peer discussion group.

Please contact Church headquarters directly to obtain the document you need.

hdangl wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:41 am I am doing my taxes for 2023 and cannot find the tithing donation receipt I gave through Fidelity Charitable accounts, and need a copy right away. my member number is [personal details removed]

Replying to hdangi, you don’t need a receipt for your donation to the church through Fidelity charitable because your taxable event for a charitable donation happened when you contributed to your donor advised Fidelity Charitable account. You don’t need to itemize who the funds eventually went to and you can’t claim it twice as a donation anyway,

caroleeaw wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 1:07 am Replying to hdangi, you don’t need a receipt for your donation to the church through Fidelity charitable because your taxable event for a charitable donation happened when you contributed to your donor advised Fidelity Charitable account. You don’t need to itemize who the funds eventually went to and you can’t claim it twice as a donation anyway,

That's not the impression I get when reading 2023 Instructions for Schedule A page A-10, "Gifts of $250 or more" as well as "Line 11".

caroleeaw wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 1:07 am Replying to hdangi, you don’t need a receipt for your donation to the church through Fidelity charitable because your taxable event for a charitable donation happened when you contributed to your donor advised Fidelity Charitable account. You don’t need to itemize who the funds eventually went to and you can’t claim it twice as a donation anyway,

russellhltn wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 11:37 am That's not the impression I get when reading 2fo023 Instructions for Schedule A page A-10, "Gifts of $250 or more" as well as "Line 11".

caroleeaw is correct. hdangi does not get a receipt for the donation Fidelity made to the Church. hdangi needs the record of the contribution made to the Fidelity donor advised fund. The date the Fidelity account was funded is the date of the deductible contribution and the record for IRS purposes would be a statement from the financial institution, an electronic fund transfer receipt, a canceled check, or some other record of the funding sent to Fidelity to set up the account.

The amount of the funding sent to Fidelity then is recorded on Schedule A for purposes of the tax deduction. It does not matter when Fidelity sends the money to the Church. The donation was made when the money was sent to Fidelity.

Interesting. Clearly this is a whole different situation.

I could not find any instructions on how to make grants from a fidelity charitable account that are tied to my account as a member. I made a few test donations with 'Use: Tithe' from a Fidelity Charitable account to see how the Church offices handles it. Their offices politely reached out to me and informed me that there's also a 'Use: Create your own' option in fidelity charitable that you can use to add additional information.

So if you're searching on how to make donations to the Church from a fidelity charitable account and you want it to be somehow associated with your member account with minimum processing friction, then here are some instructions:

Disclaimer I'm not a professional/expert and you should do your own due diligence for your own personal circumstances.

1. From the "Grant to Charities" screen in fidelity charities, click the "Find Charity" button, and then find the LDS church which has tax id 87-0234341, address 50 E North Temple Rm 1521 Fl 15 (Treasury department), and is available for electronic transfer
2. In the "Use" field, select "Create your Own"
3. Include the following information
• Your member record number (if you are not a member or want to make an anonymous donation, you can probably use one of the other 'Use' options)
• Allocation (e.g. Humanitarian, Tithe, Fast Offering)
▪ Ward Unit Number and Name (Only needed for Fast Offering & Ward Missionary)

I believe statements will be made the month following the donation via the 'third party donations' tab on the church's website. I'm still waiting to make sure everything looks good. It sounds like the church is receptive to questions via email at the address:
- donations 'at' churchofjesuschrist 'dot' org
(I formatted the email this way to avoid robotic spam against their account).

I'd like to thank the helpful people in the Church offices that had to trace down my first few attempts at this.